prevalent Disorders^ Sr^., with Volcanic Emanatio7is. 625 



stationary at the time he alludes to, 1817. (xviii. 203.) Now, 

 there are reasons, why this is a most unsatisfactory explanation. 

 That the magnetic needle might be contemporaneously affected, 

 and that, at the period when its variation altered, a great 

 change might take place in the earth's organism, is more 

 than conjectural; and that fact might have pointed out a 

 cause for the " breaking loose " of the ice less unphilosophical 

 than has been assigned. The years 1816, 1817, and 1818 

 were celebrated for earthquakes ; and Mr. Scoresby has 

 actually mentioned that, on April 29. 1818, Bird (or Egg) 

 Island, a dependence of Jan Mayen's Island, was smoking; 

 and it is probable that there were eruptions before ; for the 

 space whence the ice was removed is volcanic. * In accord- 

 ance with the state of things a few years later, we find that, in 

 1828, the glacier of Skideraa Jokul, in Iceland, was in erup- 

 tion {Griiithuisen, p. 42.) ; and Capt. Ross states that the 

 winter of 1829 was the mildest on record; that the season of 

 1831-2 was tremendously cold, and that of 1832-3 very mild. 

 Capt. Parry states, also, that 1818 and 1825 were unusually 

 mild. (Third Voyage, p. 151.) Dr. Besserf has furnished 

 us with some particulars respecting the seasons at Kreminiec 

 in Volhynia (in lat. 50° 5' n., long. 23° 2r e. from Paris), 

 four miles from the Austrian and Russian frontiers of Brody, 

 from 1815 to 1830, by which it appears that 1818 was an 

 early year, and 1829 a most extraordinary season for mild- 

 ness; and that, from 1820 to 1830, no frost occurred there, 

 only snow, in winter; and that the summers were free from 

 rain, producing famine of usual food. I can only refer, as a 

 confirmation of my views, to the statements respecting the 

 numerous earthquakes of 1829, given by me in VI. SOL, 

 which correspond exactly with the state of the ice at that 

 period in both hemispheres. J It is easy to show, by the 

 records of the years 1816, 1817, 1818, that the earth was 

 generally heated at that time by volcanic agency ; and the 



* Arctic Regions, i. 166. There was, it would seem, an eruption or 

 earthquake in Jan Mayen, on Sept. 8. 1633-4. 



f liesponsum ad Quccstiones Consilii Medici Imperii d. Oct. 15. 1830 datas, 

 ct a Consilio Medico Volhynico d. Nov. 18. 1830 communicatas, cum 

 W. Besser, M. D. The doctor says, — " Rarissima hyenis fuit a. 1829, 

 ubi via pro trahis per quatuor menses non interrupta duravit, alias vix per 

 duo me7ises sine interruptione observatur." " Cerasi avium pleruraque 

 Aprilis 25. incipiunt florere. Rarus casus fuit a. 1818, ubi jam Aprilis 8. 

 effloruere." He says, also, that, in 1812, the cold commenced in October ; 

 that, in 1813, melons were destroyed by frost, on May 12. (24.) j and that, 

 in 1829, snow fell in November, but melted at sunrise. 



:J: One of the Andes was also in eruption in 1829. (Bousaingavlt.) 



Vol. VIL — No. 44. ss 



